English as an Additional Language

We welcome children who don’t speak or hear much English spoken at home and our staff have lots of experience in caring for little ones who are learning (or will learn) English as an additional language.

Although it may be daunting to come to a nursery where the words are unfamiliar, there is no better place to help your child to quickly begin to understand spoken English. Children are naturally very tolerant of others’ differences and will instinctively support those who need additional communication methods to understand, often using hand-gestures and mime to make their point.

As adults, we can support a bilingual child in other ways; we offer lots of opportunities for playing in small groups, either with or without an adult and we create a fun environment in which we can share language. Often children who are reluctant to try speaking English will happily join in with an action song, for example. We use puppets to tell a story to exaggerate its meaning and sometimes the children will help us to act out a well-loved tale. In addition, we ensure that we make formal assessments to monitor development and work closely with you when we check your child’s progress and plan for the future.

If you are unsure of the meaning of any of our written forms of information, we will always try and arrange for a translation.